Our Saviour's Lutheran Church (Stanwood, Wash.)

A group of Norwegians came out from South Dakota in 1876 and asked the Norwegian Lutheran Synod to establish a congregation for them. Rev. E. Christensen was sent our to carry on Home Mission work in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. He came to Stanwood to establish Trinity Lutheran on August 9, 1876. The first official meeting of the congregation was held on August 12, 1877, and on June 10, 1878 a lot was purchased for $25. The building, started late in November, is believed to be the first Lutheran church on the Pacific coast. It is the first Norwegian Lutheran Church in the Pacific Northwest. The building was razed by fire in 1892, and a new church was erected on the present site. It was dedicated on August 12, 1894. Being the mother church of Norwegian Lutherans in the Pacific Northwest, it has served as focus for conventions and other activities through the years. In 1917, when the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America was formed, Zion Lutheran congregation, located in East Stanwood, consolidated and the name Our Saviour’s was adopted.

From the guide to the Our Saviour's Lutheran Church, Stanwood, Washington, Records, 1876-2012, (Pacific Lutheran University)